Road Accident Costing Evaluation

In 2005, the Asia Development Bank conducted the first-ever road accident costing study in Cambodia. The objective of the road accidents costing are described following:

• To find out the national cost that had been lost by the accident involved such as fatalities, injures, properties damage, court and administration;
• To show as one of poverty factor to the nation and the economic lost by road accidents, and wake up the responsibilities agencies and RGC to take an action set up strategy or approach to reduce this issue.

The methodology used to determine road accident costs was the Gross Output/Human Capital method (refer to report below for methodological details). The main cost components that are included are property damage, medical costs, human costs (grief, pain, and suffering), lost output and administrative costs. Based on the above method, the costing study determined that the total annual costs of accidents amounted to about US$116 million representing 3.21% of the GDP. The cost percentage breakdown is presented below:

Percentage of Overall National Costs Lost of Road Accidents in 2002 by Cost Components (ADB 2004)

Ultimately, the research clearly demonstrates that it is essential that adequate sums of money are spent in dealing with the road accident problem. There is a clear benefit to investing in road safety and prioritizing resources to mitigate the social and economic losses due to accident, injuries and deaths on the road.

However, with the annual increase of accidents and casualties since 2004, it is recognized that the figures presented above will need to be updated to reflect the current reality in terms of economic losses.

• National Road Safety Committee (NRSC)
• Asia Development Bank (ADB)